Over 80K flee floods in southwest China

More than 80,000 people have been forced to evacuate in southwest China due to severe flooding, state media reported Wednesday, as rescue teams pulled a truck driver from a collapsed bridge in a dramatic scene emblematic of the country’s escalating weather crisis.

The flooding has hit Guizhou province especially hard, where about 80,900 people had been evacuated by Tuesday afternoon, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

In Rongjiang county, a football field was “submerged under three meters of water,” Xinhua reported. State broadcaster CCTV showed villages inundated and bridges collapsed in the province’s mountainous areas, while rescue crews maneuvered boats through murky, knee-deep water to evacuate residents.

“The water rose very quickly,” resident Long Tian told Xinhua. “I stayed on the third floor waiting for rescue. By the afternoon, I had been transferred to safety.”

Children were shown waiting inside a flooded kindergarten as emergency personnel approached, and one team prepared a drone to deliver rice and other supplies to stranded victims.

One widely circulated video showed truck driver You Guochun recounting how a collapsed bridge left his vehicle teetering on the edge.

“A bridge collapsed entirely in front of me,” he said. “I was terrified.”

The flooding in Guizhou is part of a broader pattern of extreme weather battering China this summer, as heavy rain inundates some areas while heatwaves scorch others. Neighboring Guangxi also reported flooding, with emergency crews shown carrying residents to safety.

In central Hunan province, tens of thousands were displaced last week due to heavy rainfall. Nearly 70,000 people were relocated days earlier in southern regions following flooding linked to Typhoon Wutip.

Authorities issued the year’s first red alerts last week for mountain torrents in six regions—China’s highest-level warning. Xinhua reported that some areas were “extremely likely to be hit,” urging local governments to alert residents swiftly.

Climate change, which scientists say is being worsened by greenhouse gas emissions, is contributing to the frequency and intensity of such weather events.

This week, Beijing issued the second-highest heat warning as the capital endured one of its hottest days of the year. China recorded its hottest year ever in 2023, with the past four years ranking among the warmest.

The country remains the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases but has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, while also leading in renewable energy development.